U.K. data watchdog warns of neurotechnology discrimination

Jan 26, 2024

First, people fretted about algorithmic bias. Now, they’re worried about A.I. bias extending that danger. But soon, the big concern may be bias in neurotechnology—a rapidly swelling field that includes the likes of Elon Musk's Neuralink, and the Jeff Bezos– and Bill Gates–backed rival, brain implant maker Synchron.

The U.K.'s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), today said it expected to see devices that tap into signals coming from the nervous system to "become widespread over the next decade." While researchers are already using brain implants to combat dementia and help paralyzed people walk again, the watchdog said, "neurotechnologies are rapidly developing for use in the personal well-being, sports, and marketing sectors and even for monitoring people in the workplace."

The ICO fears dangerous bias could creep into the models being developed for reading and interpreting neurodata, if the devices aren't assessed on neurodivergent people in particular. For example, neurotechnology systems could have the baked-in assumption that certain patterns are "undesirable…[so] those with those patterns may then be overlooked for promotions or employment opportunities."

"Neurotechnology collects intimate personal information that people are often not aware of, including emotions and complex behavior. The consequences could be dire if these technologies are developed or deployed inappropriately," said the agency's regulatory risk chief, Stephen Almond.

Synchron is already conducting human trials of its brain implant—it said earlier this year that the implant "appeared to be safe and enabled patients to do hands-free texting, emailing, online banking and shopping, and communicating care needs using their thoughts." Neuralink, which claims its brain interface will "restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow," finally got FDA approval for human testing a couple of weeks ago.

Meta also dabbled in the brain interface space for several years under its former Facebook guise, but pulled out in 2021, on the basis that consumer head-mounted hardware was a long way off. It decided to instead focus on developing a wrist-worn device that could sense electrical motor nerve signals—the sort of thing that could prove useful for interacting with the metaverse.

The ICO reckons such wearable devices will be the ones that gain real market traction in several years’ time, being integrated into fitness trackers, deployed in the workplace, and used to play VR/AR games.

However, if you’ve seen that fascinating tweet by neurotechnologist Sterling Crispin, who worked on Apple's Vision Pro headset and described it as "a crude brain computer interface via the eyes"…no, the ICO is not concerned about that. "We are talking about the collection of data directly from people's brain and nervous system," a spokesperson told me.

The ICO said it will issue specific neurodata guidance by 2025. In the meantime, it has a report out on the subject, which you can read here.

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David Meyer

Data Sheet's daily news section was written and curated by Andrea Guzman.

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